Edge of Honor: An EDGE Security Novel

by Loye, Trish

  “Why?”

  “Because he’s being followed by someone else.”

  Dante’s voice sharpened. “Do they know you’re there?”

  Ahead, the stranger ducked into the doorway of a restaurant and pretended to peruse the menu on the wall. Charlie paused in front of a kiosk selling papers, gossip rags, and gum. From the headlines on the papers, the English certainly liked to gossip about their Royals.

  “Of course they don’t know I’m here.” At that moment, Jack gave a quick glance over his shoulder. “I think Jack knows he’s being followed, but not by who yet.”

  “Jack?”

  “He’s the bodyguard. First name is Jack. I want to know why he’s being followed. Can you dig up some info on him?”

  “Wilco. Give me a minute.”

  She hung up and kept following the men, sometimes losing sight of Jack.

  The stranger only looked back once, and she made sure she stood smiling by a group of women lusting after some shoes in a store window. Just another shoe shopper.

  When she looked back, she’d lost sight of Jack. But the man had crossed the street and ducked into a pub. The Three Horseshoes. It even had a wooden sign hanging out front with three iron horseshoes bolted to it. Big windows set in the gray stone walls showed people enjoying food and drink. A popular spot.

  The phone buzzed. “Anything?” she asked.

  “I’m pulling it up now. His name is Jack Sinclair. He’s ex-SAS. Shit.”

  “What?”

  “He was dishonorably discharged a year ago. His team was killed. They couldn’t prove it was him. But he couldn’t prove it wasn’t. He’s bad news, Q. Stay clear.”

  They thought he’d killed his team? He’d have to be a horrible coward and a traitor. That didn’t fit with the man she’d met—one who defended her for no reason.

  “Why do you think he’s being followed?” she asked.

  “Not a clue. He’s into something shady, maybe. Either way, I think you should pull back, Q. This isn’t some spy game.”

  “I know that.” She shook her head as she stared at the pub and thought about what she’d seen. “The guy looked serious. What if he jumps Ja-I mean Sinclair?”

  “He’s ex-SAS. He’ll be fine, but you won’t be if you get mixed up in their business. Q, don’t follow them anymore. You’re without backup.”

  “I’ve got you,” she said. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to do anything stupid. I promise. Besides I’m in a public space.”

  “Q—”

  “Q out.” She hung up and bit her lip. Why was she following Jack? Dante was right, this wasn’t her business. But what if Jack needed help?

  She almost snorted. Like she could help him? Or he’d accept it? What she should be more worried about was why she was so concerned, so curious about this man. Why did she feel the need to figure out every aspect of him?

  Well, she knew why, she wasn’t an idiot. But being attracted to a man didn’t mean that she should endanger either herself or the mission.

  Dante was right. She should just turn around and head back to the hotel.

  The decision of whether to leave or not was taken from her when the stranger strode out of the pub and back down the street. She waited a beat, but Jack didn’t follow. She bit her lip as she stared at the door.

  “I’ve got nothing to lose,” she finally muttered, then crossed the street and entered the pub.

  6

  It took her a moment for her eyes to adjust, but when they did she spotted Jack sitting at the end of the long bar watching her with a hooded gaze. She swallowed and gave him a smile.

  He didn’t return it.

  Had he really killed his team? Her gut told her no, but her gut could be fooled. Facts and logic would tell her whether this guy could be trusted. She didn’t think about why it was so important to her to know whether she could trust him.

  Quelling the butterflies in her stomach, she walked over. He said nothing when she stopped in front of him. “May I sit down?”

  “Why?”

  “Why do I want to sit down?”

  He rolled his eyes. “Ya know what I mean.”

  And she did, but she’d been hoping to avoid answering. “I have some questions, and for some reason I feel like I can trust you to answer them honestly.” Her face heated a little, but she felt it was better to be direct. Though by his frown, maybe she’d have been better off saying that she wanted to sit because her feet hurt.

  “I don’t want to answer any questions,” he said gruffly. He turned on the stool, away from her.

  Irritated, she pursed her lips. “Well, we don’t always get what we want.”

  “No shit,” he muttered. Then he scrubbed a hand through his short dark hair and turned back. “Look, you seem nice.”

  She nodded. It wasn’t the best adjective, but she’d heard worse. “I can handle nice.”

  “But I’m not nice.” He scowled. “And you can’t handle me. You should leave now.”

  By all rights, he should be scaring her, but instead she was still just irritated. She plopped onto the stool beside him. He growled something and stood up, pulling some pound notes from his pocket. He was going to leave her here? Not without her at least trying to find an answer.

  “Why was that man following you?” she asked.

  He froze.

  Two breaths later, he looked at her with narrowed eyes. She could see him mentally reassessing her, rehashing all of their interactions. “Who do you work for?” he asked.

  “Classified,” she said, which was an answer in itself, but her instinct said she could trust him with that much. She tilted her head as she studied him. Was he one of the good guys? She prayed she hadn’t made a mistake. “You’re former SAS,” she said. “Why are you guarding Dr. Levington?”

  He crossed his arms, and it emphasized how broad his chest was. She forced her gaze back up to his face and the fierce scowl etched there.

  “So you know my past?”

  “Someone mentioned it to me.”

  “Why are you even talking to me, then?”

  That question told her a lot. He’d been judged guilty by his peers, even if the court martial hadn’t convicted him. A pang of sympathy moved through her. “I prefer to make my own judgments.”

  He shook his head. “Are you even a scientist?”

  “Yes,” she said. “And I really am here to present at the conference.”

  “Is that why you were labeling the other scientists? To sort out your suspect list?”

  He remembered her slip. She crossed her arms now. “Classified.”

  “Tell me what’s happening. I can help.” His lips tightened, as though the words had slipped out before he could stop them.

  “I’ll have to clear it with my superiors,” she said.

  He shook his head. “Don’t bother. I won’t be able to help you.” He turned to go, and some impulse made her lay a hand on his arm. He stopped, but didn’t look at her. It gave her a little thrill to know that for some reason this man listened to her. She wasn’t sure why, but she knew she didn’t want to lose the little trust he gave her.

  “Please sit,” she said. “There was another reason I came over. I…I wanted to thank you for earlier.”

  He didn’t sit. “For what?”

  “For standing up for me,” she said. “At the meet-and-greet.”

  “It was nothing.”

  “It was something to me.” She gave a half shrug, almost embarrassed. “I can’t remember the last time someone did that.”

  He took a step toward her. “The guy is an arse. You shouldn’t pay attention to anything he says. Ever.”

  “Something tells me you’re one of the good ones, Jack.” She wasn’t sure what made her do it—she was never forward with men, and certainly never in public. Regardless, something made her stand on her tiptoes…and touch her lips to his.

  It was supposed to be a simple kiss. A friendly thank-you kiss.

  Her lips touched his, and a s
park froze them both. Froze her, even as heat swept over and through her. She closed her eyes against the surge and swayed slightly toward him, molding her lips to his. She placed her hands on his hard shoulders to steady herself.

  He hadn’t moved. The tingling heat vanished as if it had never been. She pulled back slightly. And when he still didn’t move, she stepped away. Realization swept through her.

  Oh my god. She’d kissed him, and then lingered.

  But he obviously hadn’t enjoyed it. From the muscle leaping in his jaw, she’d clearly overstepped boundaries. Even his hands were clenched at his sides. His eyes glittered.

  Damn. She’d stepped in it again. She drew in a ragged breath and straightened her shoulders. She’d fix this.

  “Sorry. I…I just meant to thank you. I always kiss my Aunt when I thank her and it…it just sort of…”

  He held up a hand. “It’s fine. Are we done?”

  His words lashed her. Why had she done something so stupid? She didn’t know this man. Holy hell, former SAS or not, he could be a suspect and she thought kissing him was a good idea? She needed to get out of there now. Right now. She took another step back toward the exit. Time to leave.

  “I’ll talk to my superiors about you,” she said quickly. “Perhaps you could help us out.”

  His face had shuttered again. As far as she could tell, the man was a robot.

  “Don’t bother,” he said. “They won’t want me.”

  “Well, I want you.”

  Oh. My. God. What was wrong with her?

  “I didn’t mean that,” she said quickly. “I meant I’d like you on my team.”

  He just shook his head slightly. “It’s not going to happen.”

  She shrugged. “Well, I should go.” Before she disgraced herself any more. “Goodbye.” She left the pub with what she hoped was a dignified unhurried pace, but what she feared was more of a sprint.

  She hung her head in shame and berated herself on the walk home. What the hell had come over her?

  * * *

  What the hell had come over him?

  Jack watched Charlie leave the pub, her shoulders back and her stride unhurried. She looked confident and sexy, but he’d seen the uncertainty in her eyes before she’d turned.

  She’d kissed him.

  An innocent kiss to thank him for sticking up for her. A peck, really.

  And it had unleashed a storm of desire inside him, sending heat and lightning through him. He’d barely been able to refrain from grabbing her and kissing her properly, the way he wanted, the way he needed. To run his hands over her trim body, discovering her curves, exploring her mouth and those luscious lips.

  His hands clenched again. What was wrong with him? He’d avoided relationships for the past two years, but he hadn’t gone without a woman in that time. Why did this little Sherlock set him on fire?

  He scrubbed a hand over his face. It didn’t matter. He left the pub. He wasn’t going to drag a nice woman like her into the hell that was his life. And she sure as fuck didn’t seem like the type of woman who’d want a one-night stand, and Jack hadn’t done anything else since he’d left the SAS.

  She probably regretted the kiss anyway. Especially after the way he’d reacted. She wouldn’t be pestering him any longer, and he could focus on the real problem: Why were both Ethan and Charlie here? Did they suspect Spider might show up, as he did?

  Should he reach out to Charlie? Maybe they could pool their resources. It didn’t seem like she thought he was a coward. Maybe…

  No. He shut those thoughts down fast.

  It didn’t matter. He couldn’t be involved with her, even just to exchange information. Jack was pretty sure Spider knew he was closing in on him. Charlie was a self-admitted scientist. She wasn’t prepared to deal with someone like Spider. Jack needed to do this himself, and not drag Charlie into it. Spider would have his reckoning, and Jack would be the one to bring him to justice.

  He tried to keep focused on vengeance on his walk back to the hotel, but thoughts of Charlie’s soft lips and shy gaze kept interfering.

  * * *

  Charlie had just about walked off her shame when she hit the hotel. She went over and over the short kiss. And it had been short. Nothing one friend wouldn’t give to another.

  Except they weren’t friends. And she’d held the kiss a tad too long for friendship.

  Heat flushed her face again. She was just going to have to avoid the man.

  Right after she read his file. Her curiosity demanded she figure out his background and make her own judgments on his character. She wanted to know if she could trust him. It didn’t matter if she found him attractive. It was time to be a professional.

  She sent a quick text to Cat letting her know she was back and went straight to her room. She’d call her aunt next.

  One step inside the room and she stopped, her hand still holding the door open.

  Someone had ransacked her room. The drawers of the dresser were open and the clothes she’d put there strewn on the floor. The lamp from the desk rested on the floor. The contents of her messenger bag covered the bed and her closet had been torn apart, the few things hung there dumped onto the floor.

  Her laptop.

  She took the two steps to the closet, letting the door shut behind her, and dropped to her knees in front of the safe. It had a keypad and beside it was a new circular dent about the size of a dime. Her finger traced the dent in the metal.

  Bullet-sized.

  She sucked in a breath. Someone had shot at the safe. They must have wanted into it badly.

  The slightest whisper of movement made her turn, still crouched. She caught a glimpse of a person swinging something at her and threw herself sideways.

  It was a small man. She catalogued as much of him as she could in the glimpse she had. Dark suit. Balaclava covering his face.

  He swung again. A metal baton of some type. The bed blocked her from rolling. She lifted her arm to protect her face.

  Pain lanced her forearm and she cried out. He lifted the baton for another swing and she kicked out hard. Her heel caught his knee and he grunted. She kicked again and screamed for help.

  He shifted away from the second kick and ran from the room. She heard the door click closed. She jumped up, cradling her throbbing arm, and went after him.

  The hallway was empty, but he had to be in the stairwell. She pounded on Cat’s door. “Valkyrie! I need you ASAP.”

  Cat flung open the door, gun in hand.

  Charlie took off for the nearest stairwell. It spoke of Cat’s trust in her as a teammate that she didn’t question, she just followed. Charlie yelled over her shoulder what had happened as they raced down the stairs.

  She paused after two flights and looked down the center of the stairwell, breathing as quietly as she could. She heard nothing. “He’s not in this stairwell anymore. He could be anywhere in the hotel by now,” Charlie said.

  “Hold on, I’m calling Gears,” Cat said. She pulled out her phone, tapped a number, and passed it to Charlie.

  “Gears,” his deep voice said in her ear.

  “Looking for a man, about five-six, in a dark suit,” she said without preamble, as she and Cat started back up the stairs to their floor.

  “I need more, Q. You just described half the men in the hotel. Including the staff.”

  “He’s coming from our floor and he’ll most likely be headed for an exit. He was carrying a metal baton of some sort, but he’ll probably have ditched it.”

  Gears went silent as he worked. “I don’t have anything. Why are we looking for this guy?”

  They’d reached their floor and she started walking back to her room. “Cause he was searching my room when I came back.”

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  She shook out her arm and winced. She ignored Cat’s frown. “I’m fine. He didn’t get anything that I could see.”

  Cat took the phone from her as they entered her room. She listened for a moment. “Wilco,
” she said, then stuck the phone on the dresser. “Gears is on speaker. Now, let me see your arm.”

  “It’s fine. It’ll be bruised, but it’s not broken.” Thankfully. It was still tender and throbbed, but it wasn’t anything that an icepack wouldn’t cure.

  Cat nodded. “Okay. Then take us through what happened.”

  She looked at the mess of her room and plopped onto her bed. She told them the details in concise sentences. “I’m not sure why I was targeted.”

  Cat paced back and forth in front of her bed. “I have two questions. Why are you now a target, and how could this guy have gotten past Gears watching the security feed?”

  Gears spoke up from the phone. “I’ve just figured that out. Someone hacked the security feed and looped the hallway. I didn’t even know you’d returned to the floor, Q.”

  Cat cursed.

  Charlie pinched the bridge of her nose as she thought. “Can you tell how long the feed was looped?”

  “About twenty minutes.”

  “So this guy wasn’t working alone,” she said. “He had a friend hack the system while he searched my room.”

  “Did he take anything?” Dante asked.

  She pointed Cat toward the dent in the safe. Cat crouched by it and grunted as she touched the dent. “The guy wanted in. He must have had a silencer as well. So…well equipped. Do we think this could be Spider?”

  “Maybe,” Charlie said. “But why me? The tech I brought doesn’t fit his usual profile.”

  “Maybe he’s branching out,” Cat said. “Either way, I think it’s time we got you and your aunt home.”

  She scowled. “Screw that. I’m not leaving now.”

  “Spider might be targeting you,” Cat said. “It’s not safe anymore.”

  “I didn’t come here to be safe,” she said, standing. “I may not be a full-fledged operator, but that doesn’t mean I want to hide in my lab. If this is Spider, and we still don’t know that, then what better way to catch him than to use me as bait?”

  Cat sighed. “What about your aunt?”

  Charlie bit her lip. She hated the thought of sending her aunt home when she’d been so excited for the trip. “What if… What if I just distance myself from her? She’s in another room. If Gears kept an eye on her too? She has nothing to do with the conference and will be spending most of her time touring London.”